


waiting on the clouds to part

by wordsnnotes



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Light Angst, Multi, Oh wait, POV Louis Tomlinson, Platonic Cuddling, Smoking, That's the whole premise, but now he's gone, idk what else it's very short anyway, like very light don't worry, lilo farm au with slow dancing to country music, louis and liam own a farm somewhere in yorkshire and hired zayn for the summer, was the prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27832477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsnnotes/pseuds/wordsnnotes
Summary: Now that they were back to being just the two of them in their living room, pretending that everything—down to the very atmosphere of the house—hadn’t been completely altered by Zayn’s stay on the farm, it felt like the end of the world, somehow.Or: Zayn was hired to work at Liam and Louis’ farm for the summer, and now it’s time for him to leave. Louis and Liam are both a bit heartbroken.
Relationships: Liam Payne & Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik & Liam Payne & Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik & Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Comments: 11
Kudos: 24





	waiting on the clouds to part

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to S for the best prompt ever! ily 💕  
> The title is from [Lover Come Back](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yb46QUpvuI) by City and Colour, and the song that's mentioned in the fic is [January Wedding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaj1zE0sUCI) by The Avett Brothers (thanks again to S for suggesting it ✨)

“I can’t believe he’s leaving,” Liam whispered.

They both watched the car disappear behind a cloud of dust at the end of the road leading to their farm.

“That was the deal, wasn’t it?” Louis pointed out. “For him to work here in the summer, then go back to the city.”

“Yeah, I know,” Liam sighed, taking his eyes off the horizon and starting to walk towards the tractor to get back to the fields.

Zayn’s departure didn’t mean the season was over quite yet, and they’d still have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks.

“I just hoped he’d change his mind, somehow,” he added as he was settling into the seat and starting the engine.

Louis, who had decided to work in the barn to give Liam some space, looked up towards his friend and said:

“I thought you’d try talking to him about it, to be honest.”

“Why me and not you?” Liam frowned.

“C’mon, Payno,” Louis scoffed. “I know you two had a thing. Would’ve made more sense for _you_ to ask.”

“Wait, you knew?”

Liam looked like a deer caught in headlights, and Louis couldn’t help chuckling at the sight.

“Don’t act so surprised, lad. It’s not like you were being subtle about it.”

“I thought we were,” Liam pouted.

“Maybe it’s just that I know you too well and you can’t hide anything from me, then,” Louis shrugged. “Anyway, you really didn’t talk to him?”

“No.”

“Did you even say goodbye?”

“I mean, yes, but…” 

Louis rolled his eyes. Liam was easily one of the smartest people he’d ever met, he truly was, but he could also be so clueless when it came to guys...

“You just let him go without a word?”

He felt a little bad about pushing it, but Liam needed to get his shit together, and prompto. Zayn had been perfect for him, and for his sake, Louis could just _not_ let it slide.

“I just… I didn’t know how he felt, you know?” Liam tried to explain with a wince. “Maybe it was just a casual thing for him? Or maybe he thought it was just a casual thing for me? But now it’s too late, obviously.”

“Shit. You really have it bad for him, don’t ya?”

Liam’s only reaction was to blush and avert his eyes.

Louis continued staring at him, crossing his arms and waiting for an answer. He knew it would come, eventually.

And indeed, after a few seconds, Liam mumbled:

“I’ve really fucked this up, haven’t I?”

Louis stood on tiptoes and reached out to take the key out of the tractor’s engine.

“Come on. Let’s leave work for the day and get drunk. Plus, by the look of those clouds, it’s gonna start raining soon anyway.”

🌦🌦🌦

Three hours later, they were both tipsy on beer—Louis more so than Liam, but he’d always been bad at holding his liquor.

He was slumped on their comfy leather couch, staring at the ceiling and trying to count the square tiles that it was made of. He somehow always ended up doing this whenever they got drunk, usually coming up with an answer, but never remembering it the next day.

“There’s 15 tiles along the width of the room, and then 21 along the length,” he mumbled to himself. “And then there’s the kitchen area, that’s 7 multiplied by 6, so... 42. Liam, love, what’s 15 times 21 plus 42?”

Liam was lying on the floor and staring out the window. It hadn’t stopped raining for the past few hours, and Louis could see the puddles in the front yard getting bigger by the minute.

“I don’t know, 589?” Liam eventually suggested, not bothering to turn his head to look at his friend.

“There’s no way that’s right,” Louis huffed.

Zayn would’ve at least made an effort to look it up on his phone, he thought sadly. He missed the guy already.

Liam mumbled: “Why do you care so much anyway?”, but Louis didn’t answer. He actually had no idea why he kept coming back to those tiles.

They fell into silence and focused on the country music compilation they always listened to when they had those kinds of “parties”. It had been a gift from Liam’s parents when they had moved to the farm, Karen jokingly saying that they would be living the cowboy life now.

The life they were actually living was pretty far from the rural American dream, though. Yes, their farm was in the middle of nowhere, but instead of it being Kansas or something, it was fucking Yorkshire, and it was always raining. And of course, even though it had been their dream for almost as long as they’d been friends, managing a farm wasn’t easy. It was damn stressful and exhausting, as a matter of fact.

“I wanna dance,” Liam abruptly declared, sitting up so quickly it made Louis dizzy..

“Knock yourself out, lad,” he answered. 

He wasn’t surprised by Liam’s sudden urge. He’d always loved to dance, and Louis suspected it was an outlet that allowed him to control the energy that was always rushing through him like waves.

He expected him to switch the music to something more catchy, but instead Liam said:

“No, I mean, I wanna dance with you.”

“With me, sir?” 

Louis batted his eyes and pretended to be flustered, while Liam stared at him, unimpressed.

“No but seriously, not even Liam Gallagher could convince me to get up from this couch tonight,” Louis added.

“I’m the better Liam, and it’s time you admitted it,” his friend replied, unexpectedly grabbing him under the armpits and forcing him to stand up.

Louis did his best to express his disapproval by keeping his body as limp as possible, but the result was that he ended up being cradled into Liam’s arms. Well. 

“You’re literally forcing us to slow dance, right now,” Liam pointed out happily.

And indeed, they were slowly stepping left and right, left and right, Louis having to follow Liam’s lead if he didn’t want to completely lose his balance.

After a few minutes of reluctant dancing, he gave in and freed his arms from Liam’s hold to surround his waist with them, resting his chin in the crook of his shoulder.

“It’s nice,” he admitted. “We should do that more often.”

Liam hummed in response, and Louis felt him tighten his grip around him as the album moved on to the sappiest song yet, about a man being overjoyed at getting married in January.

They usually made fun of how ridiculous it was to get married in the most depressing month of the year, but tonight the mood was different. When the singer quietly started singing about how true love was not the kind of thing you should turn down, Louis heard Liam sigh, and he knew that the line reminded him of the one who got away.

“Are you gonna be alright?” he asked.

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Liam whispered in the vicinity of Louis’ right ear. “I feel so stupid.”

“I won’t argue with you on that,” Louis giggled, and Liam pulled his ear in retaliation.

“Ouch, that really hurt,” Louis whined.

“You deserve it for making fun of my miserable state,” Liam declared.

“You know what, you’re right. Sorry, lad.”

They were quiet again after that, listening to the end of the song as they carried on rocking left and right like they were some kind of old married couple, and not just two twenty-somethings who had all the time in the world to change paths fifteen times if they wanted to.

When the song ended and all they could hear was the soothing scratching sound of the vinyl, they stopped moving but stayed in each other’s arms.

“Are _you_ gonna be alright?” Liam asked. “You’ve been sad all night.”

Louis hadn’t been aware he’d been giving off sad vibes, but that was why Liam was his best friend, after all. More often than not, he knew Louis better than Louis himself.

“Guess I’m just a bit depressed that Zayn left as well,” he said. “Really liked the lad, and I think we were on our way to become proper friends, d’you know what I mean? Sucks that he had to leave.”

“I know,” Liam sighed. “The three of us, we made quite a good team, didn’t we?”

They truly did, Louis thought. At first, he’d been a little wary about adding a third-party to his and Liam’s well-oiled duo, but Zayn had immediately hit it off with them, both individually and as a pair. And even once he and Liam had turned their relationship into something else, Louis had never felt like he was third-wheeling. 

So now that they were back to being just the two of them in their living room, pretending that everything—down to the very atmosphere of the house—hadn’t been completely altered by Zayn’s stay on the farm, it felt like the end of the world, somehow.

“Yeah. We were,” Louis answered quietly.

🌦🌦🌦

What woke him up a few hours later was the unmistakable smell of cigarettes, and a throbbing headache. He slowly opened an eye, then the other one, and was met with an unexpected vision: Zayn sitting on the armchair at the other side of the coffee table, watching him and Liam with a smirk.

“Thought Liam told you you’re not allowed to smoke inside,” Louis said, still too sleepy to realise that Zayn wasn’t supposed to be here anymore.

“I hardly think he’ll care today,” Zayn answered, raising an eyebrow. “You two look quite cute when you sleep.”

“Don’t pretend like you’ve never seen Liam sleeping before,” Louis scoffed, raising an eyebrow as well.

He noticed with some satisfaction that Zayn’s face was turning a soft shade of pink.

“He told ya?”

“Didn’t need to,” Louis shrugged, finally lifting his head from Liam’s lap and sitting up on the couch. “I know him well.”

Liam’s subconscious must have noticed that Louis’ warmth was gone, as he suddenly grew agitated in his sleep, and eventually opened his eyes too. 

Unlike Louis, his reaction was instantaneous.

“Zayn? What are you doing here?” he asked in a shaky voice, rubbing his eyes like a cat.

The other man stubbed his cigarette out in the glass he was holding, and answered:

“I almost made it to London. But then when I saw the city lights in the distance, I just couldn’t bring myself to drive the last few miles. Felt out of place, somehow. And I missed you so much already. You both,” he added, winking at Louis. “So, I was wondering if maybe I could stay? If you’ll have me?”

Liam looked too stunned—and in love—to answer, so Louis took over, rolling his eyes:

“Don’t be daft, Zee. ‘F course we’ll have ya.”

“Yeah, obviously,” Liam added shyly. “We already missed you too.”

His and Zayn’s eyes met and Louis let them have a moment, until he couldn’t wait anymore and exclaimed:

“Now bring in the group hug, lads!”

🌦🌦🌦

When dawn came, the clouds parted to let out a timid ray of sun which cast glitters all over the puddles of the night before, and they watched the spectacle, standing behind the window.

"Can't believe you came back," Liam whispered.

Zayn pressed a kiss to his temple in answer, while Louis walked to the kitchen with a smile on his face. Better start the coffee maker now. They had a long day of work in front of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Let me know what you think if you want ✨ You can also reblog the fic post [here](https://quelsentiment.tumblr.com/post/636408567928422400/waiting-on-the-clouds-to-part-by-wordsnnotes) if you're on tumblr


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